ATG7 and prostate cancer: Beclin-1, an autophagy-promoting gene, was determined to function as a tumor suppressor after it was shown to be deleted in breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers.5 Beclin-1 forms a core complex known as PtdIns3K class III with Vps34 and Vps15 regulatory subunits (Figures 2 and 3), and this complex has been shown to promote autophagy by mediating autophagosome nucleation.14 Within the Beclin-1-dependent autophagy are two alternative downstream pathways, the more common, Atg5/Atg7 dependent and the other, Atg5/Atg7 independent.7